The three of them were stunned. They never expected the situation to fall apart like this, where they were about to start fighting over the slightest disagreement.
Even though they dared not offend senior brother Eternal Faith, the person on the other side seemed like a tough nut to crack as well. He was already a genius, and it was rumoured he had an extremely close relationship with “One Will”. Even the small, skinny man who had been echoing Eternal Faith earlier refused to take action carelessly, afraid he would be dragged into some kind of trouble.
As they hesitated, Li Qingshan had already arrived before the steps, his large, tall figure going straight for Eternal Faith.
“Damned rascal, eat my A Blow and a Shout!”
Eternal Faith was overcome with both alarm and anger. The wooden fish mallet suddenly turned into a huge club that resembled a wooden beam, swinging down towards Li Qingshan’s head.
Li Qingshan felt his head ring as if he had been struck. His mind blanked out. He actually felt like he was unable to block this blow.
This strike definitely was not as simple as swinging an arcane artifact. Instead, it was one of the secret techniques of the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga called “A Blow and a Shout”. It was used with blunt weapons. Before the huge club had even hit him, the attack had already struck.
At the same time, wind whistled behind his head. The wooden fish that struck the ground flew back up, and a crack suddenly ran through the centre, opening its huge mouth and trying to swallow Li Qingshan like a huge beast. It emitted a great force of suction.
The wooden fish mallet and the wooden fish were both arcane artifacts, forming a set. They were extremely powerful, which only demonstrated the heritage of the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga and Eternal Faith’s wealth. This strike alone was basically enough to vanquish all regular Foundation Establishment cultivators.
This kid is just at mid Foundation Establishment. How can I be frightened by him?
The three secular disciples on the side let out a sigh of relief instead. With how impressive senior brother Eternal Faith was, he obviously did not require their unnecessary assistance. Senior brother Wang thought, This kid is bound to suffer for completely ignoring the advice of his elders. Now that senior brother Eternal Faith is going to be teaching him a lesson, he well and truly deserves it.
Caught in a pincer attack, Li Qingshan was unable to dodge. He brought his hands together and performed a series of seals. A thin veil of water rose up—Veil of the Water Curtain.
This kid can actually endure my A Blow and a Shout! Hmph, and he uses techniques pretty quickly too, but does he really think he can block attacks from an arcane artifact with a measly defensive technique? Eternal Faith sneered.
The wooden fish opened its mouth and sucked hard, pulling viciously on the water veil as the wooden fish mallet struck it heavily. However, the pliability and toughness of the water veil was beyond imagination. No matter how it twisted and flexed, it could not be ripped apart. The wooden fish mallet produced ripples on the surface, but the water veil completely absorbed and nullified its tremendous force that could split mountains and destroy boulders.
“How can a technique be so powerful!?”
Eternal Faith was not the only one astounded. The eyes of the three secular disciples on the side widened too.
When Li Qingshan fought, he rarely used techniques. Now that he used one today, it was unusually effective. Having reached the peak of the fourth layer of the spirit turtle, he seemed to possess the spirit turtle’s bloodline. A casually-cast water element technique was like the handiwork of a god, and he had the amplification from the Water God Seal as well.
After blocking Eternal Faith’s two arcane artifacts, Li Qingshan simply pushed his hand forward, and faint-blue water spiritual qi cascaded and accumulated, like a great wave constantly growing taller before becoming a tsunami in the end.
Ocean Wielding—The Tsunami Form.
He struck the wooden fish mallet with a palm strike.
With a great bang, the wooden fish mallet broke free from Eternal Faith’s control and smashed through the roof of the great hall, hurtling away into the distance.
As the force behind Li Qingshan’s palm strike rang out, he circulated the Arts of the Boundless Ocean, and the spiritual qi in his body rose like the tide, continuously and endlessly. A wave crashed down before the last had even subsided, sending the palm strike towards Eternal Faith.
Eternal Faith retreated in a hurry. He had actually used his body to send an arcane artifact flying! Did he practise both qi and the body!? Eternal Faith could vaguely sense he had potentially bitten off more than he could chew today. Sure enough, a rule-breaker who dared to make a ruckus in the grand hall truly was rather capable.
However, his courage immediately swelled up again. This was the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga’s Great Buddha mountain. How could they allow any outsiders to run amok? And, this was all that he was capable of.
Clang!
When Li Qingshan struck Eternal Faith, the sound that rang out was like the great boom of a bell. A huge, golden bell appeared around Eternal Faith. Li Qingshan’s hand pressed against it, but he was unable to destroy it.
Right as Li Qingshan thought how he truly was rather capable, living up to his status as an inner courtyard disciple of the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga, he shifted his gaze and noticed that Eternal Faith’s robes glowed with a gentle golden light. A palm print also appeared there, and he came to an understanding. As it turned out, his robes were also an arcane artifact.
Fortunately, I was cautious and wore this set of Protective Robes of the Golden Bell!
Eternal Faith rejoiced inside. Throughout all these years, he had been handling the various matters of the Courtyard of Secular Affairs. As such, he had not even visited the Demon Suppression hall in quite some time. He did not have any opportunity to fight, so Li Qingshan’s sudden palm strike had almost caught him off-guard.
The Courtyard of Secular Affairs held an extremely special position in the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga. Most of the time, only those disciples with insufficient talent and were unenthusiastic about buddhism would join the Courtyard of Secular Affairs. And, the courtyard was burdened with the various affairs of the secular world, so their true strength could be regarded as the weakest among the courtyards.
If he had been a disciple of some other courtyard, he would not have been pushed into such a miserable position by Li Qingshan even without so many arcane artifacts. He could have relied on his personal cultivation.
Li Qingshan smiled. “Looks like a bald ass like you has accepted quite a lot of bribes over the years.”
“Cut the nonsense!”
Eternal Faith bellowed out. Golden light flowed out of his body and another golden avatar appeared. With the golden bell on the outside and the golden avatar on the inside, he could truly be considered as impervious. He was undefeatable. Standing before the hall, he stared at Li Qingshan like he was saying, “What can you do about me?”
Li Qingshan withdrew his hand and pulled back. He could kill Daemon Commanders as a Daemon General, but with his identity as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he definitely was not any Golden Core cultivator’s opponent. Covered in arcane artifacts, he truly did find Eternal Faith rather troublesome to deal with.
Of course, if there was enough room for a proper battle, Li Qingshan was confident he would still emerge victoriously in the end. However, this was Great Buddha mountain, and he could see figures flickering between the cypress trees. The other secular disciples had all noticed the disturbance and gathered over. They asked, “Senior brother, what’s wrong?”
Eternal Faith retrieved the two arcane artifacts and solemnly struck the wooden fish with the wooden fish mallet a few times. He pointed the wooden fish mallet at Li Qingshan and said, “This person has slandered me as someone who takes bribes, making a ruckus in the pure land of buddhist cultivation and intruding upon our Courtyard of Secular Affairs. When I spoke up to point out his misdeeds, he actually responded violently, trying to harm me. Although our Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga embraces benevolence, we cannot allow this wrong-doer be. Juniors, let’s capture him together and send him to the Disciplinary courtyard.”
The monks all agreed loudly, surrounding Li Qingshan. They flickered with golden light and conjured golden avatars; they were all Foundation Establishment cultivators. Basically every single one of them possessed an arcane artifact.
Faced with the attacks of so many arcane artifacts, he would struggle to hold them off no matter how powerful his techniques were. If he were a regular Foundation Establishment cultivator, he probably would have been crushed to pieces immediately.
Eternal Faith smiled. Victory was within his grasp. He said to Li Qingshan, “If you give up and let yourself be captured, you can still live. Otherwise, we might have to defile this pure land of buddhism with blood.”
Li Qingshan laughed aloud and scorned Eternal Faith. “You said you wanted to punish me? Even if you have another thousand people, it’ll be useless.”
Eternal Faith shook his head. “You still talk wildly despite the predicament you’re in. Your madness is only lamentable!”
“If you don’t believe me, then you’re welcome to try me!”
Li Qingshan kicked up a splash beneath his feet, leaping into the air with his arms stretched out; he was like a vicious tiger lunging over for the kill.
Eternal Faith’s heart skipped a beat, and he became a little more timid, but how could he retreat in front of so many juniors? He was protected by the golden avatar and the golden bell anyway, so there was nothing Li Qingshan could do to him. He ordered, “Do it!”
At the same time, he struck the wooden fish in his hand again and again. The thumps seemed to strike Li Qingshan’s heart, directly attacking his soul. Now this was the most powerful way to use this set of arcane artifacts. At the same time, the monks all lunged over together. They probably could take down Li Qingshan in an instant.
Li Qingshan smiled. With how powerful his soul was, he completely ignored the thumpings of the wooden fish. The most powerful way to use the arcane artifacts instead became the most useless against him. He crossed his arms.
With a jangle, black chains criss-crossed together. Eternal Faith’s expression changed. The sounds of the chains seemed to ring out from the depths of his heart. Wielding the wooden fish mallet with his golden avatar, he swung it at Li Qingshan’s forehead.
However, from the corner of his eye, he spotted the shock on the other monks’ faces, all gazing above his head as they called out, “Be careful, senior brother!”
A nine-layered tower appeared above Eternal Faith’s head. It was shaped like a buddhist pagoda, but it possessed a dignified power that could suppress all, descending from above.
Boom!
The Demon Suppression Tower enveloped both Li Qingshan and Eternal Faith, and half of the front of the Courtyard of Secular Affairs’ great hall collapsed. Cracks emanated outwards on the ground.
The last sight that the monks saw was Eternal Faith’s wooden fish mallet looming over Li Qingshan’s head, about to strike him, except Li Qingshan’s lips had curled into a confident smile.
A monk raised his hands and drew everyone’s attention. “Don’t worry, everyone. With senior brother Eternal Faith’s cultivation and all his arcane artifacts, why would he be afraid of this rascal? It’ll just be a moment before he captures the rascal.”
“Help me! Ahhh!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Eternal Faith’s fearful calls and shrieks rang out from the Demon Suppression Tower.
The monk’s expression changed, and he yelled, “Everyone, rescue senior brother from there!”
Over a dozen arcane artifacts flew up together, smashing into the Demon Suppression Tower heavily. The monks were brimming with confidence. With such a powerful attack, they could even tear apart a small mountain, but the end result left them stunned.
The Demon Suppression Tower stood firmly on the ground, without budging at all. They had not even left a mark on the tower’s surface.
What arcane artifact was this!? It was actually so tough!
In the Demon Suppression Tower, Eternal Faith’s miserable cries rose and fell constantly.
Someone else came up with another idea. “Dig a tunnel under the tower and rescue senior brother like that.”
A group of people immediately got to work. In the blink of an eye, they had excavated a tunnel and arrived beneath the tower, but they only found a black bottom as tough as the tower itself. They immediately became powerless.
“Quick, go call the head monk!”
……
Suppressed in the Demon Suppression Tower, Eternal Faith noticed that the golden bell and golden avatar were still around him, so he came to his senses and called out, “Li Qingshan, do you think these evil tricks will work? I’m protected by the golden bell and golden avatar. What can you do to me? Li Qingshan? You…”
Eternal Faith shrieked out in shock. Demon qi curled around Li Qingshan as his figure erupted. His sturdy body became covered in a layer of keratin like he had equipped a set of armour. He seemed to have put on a helmet too, which only revealed his eyes that shone with dazzling, red light.
Eternal Faith backed away. “Save me!”
